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Entries tagged with “Troy Davis”

Policy Issues

Innocence

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May 28, 2014

BOOKS: ​“I Am Troy Davis”

I Am Troy Davis is a recent book by Jen Marlowe and Troy Davis’ sis­ter, Martina Davis-Correia, that tells the sto­ry of a pos­si­bly inno­cent man who was exe­cut­ed in Georgia in 2011. Troy Davis was sen­tenced to death for the mur­der of a police offi­cer in Savannah. Years lat­er evi­dence cast­ing doubts about his guilt emerged, includ­ing recan­ta­tions from sev­er­al of the wit­ness­es who had tes­ti­fied against him. Pope Benedict XVI, President Jimmy Carter, and 51 mem­bers of Congress peti­tioned for his clemen­cy. Regarding the book, actress Susan Sarandon…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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United States Supreme Court

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Jul 08, 2010

Briefs Filed in Troy Davis Case in Georgia

Briefs from both par­ties in the Troy Davis case were filed in the U.S. District Court in Savannah, Georgia, on July 7, 2010. The fed­er­al judge con­sid­er­ing the pos­si­ble inno­cence of Davis, a death row inmate from Georgia who has been grant­ed a stay of exe­cu­tion from the U.S. Supreme Court, request­ed the briefs fol­low­ing an evi­den­tiary hear­ing on June 23 review­ing new evi­dence that had arisen since Davis’s orig­i­nal tri­al. A rul­ing is expect­ed in the near future and fur­ther action by the U.S. Supreme Court may fol­low. The…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Nov 20, 2008

Federal Appeals Court to Hear Arguments in Troy Davis’ Appeal

Attorneys for Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis will have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to argue before a three-judge pan­el of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on December 9 in Atlanta. The Court will hear argu­ments on whether Davis can file a sec­ond fed­er­al chal­lenge to his con­vic­tion based on new evi­dence of his inno­cence. The Court stayed Davis’ exe­cu­tion short­ly before he was to receive a lethal injec­tion so that it could review the con­sti­tu­tion­al issues in his case.Davis’ case has gar­nered both inter­na­tion­al and nation­al attention.…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Clemency

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Sep 20, 2011

Georgia Board Denies Clemency for Troy Davis

After a hear­ing on September 19, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles denied clemen­cy to Troy Davis who is fac­ing exe­cu­tion on September 21, despite pre­sen­ta­tion of tes­ti­mo­ny cast­ing doubt on his guilt. Brian Kammer, one of Davis’s attor­neys, said, ​“I am utter­ly shocked and dis­ap­point­ed at the fail­ure of our jus­tice sys­tem at all lev­els to cor­rect a mis­car­riage of jus­tice.” Davis’s claims of inno­cence have received inter­na­tion­al atten­tion, and calls for clemen­cy have been made by Pope Benedict XVI, for­mer President Jimmy Carter, for­mer FBI Director William…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Feb 04, 2009

MULTIMEDIA: Troy Davis Case Continues to Garner Widespread Attention

Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis was sched­uled to be exe­cut­ed numer­ous times in 2008, but each date was stayed. His case is cur­rent­ly under review by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. International inter­est has con­tin­ued to mount because of con­cerns about his pos­si­ble inno­cence. Most recent­ly, Amnesty International has assist­ed in prepar­ing a mul­ti­me­dia pre­sen­ta­tion about his case with the music group ​“State Radio.” The video may be viewed here. Davis’ case has gar­nered sup­port from many quar­ters, includ­ing for­mer President Jimmy Carter and the…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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United States Supreme Court

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Dec 22, 2009

New Evidence in Troy Davis Case

New evi­dence in the Troy Davis case in Georgia has recent­ly emerged, fur­ther impli­cat­ing anoth­er sus­pect in the mur­der of off-duty police offi­cer Mark Allen MacPhail. In 1991, Davis was sen­tenced to death for offi­cer MacPhail’s mur­der. Davis became the pri­ma­ry sus­pect after Sylvester ​“Redd” Coles told the police about Davis’s pres­ence at the crime scene. During his 1991 tri­al, nine pros­e­cu­tion eye­wit­ness­es tes­ti­fied against Davis. All but two of the wit­ness­es (one of whom is Coles) have recant­ed their tes­ti­mo­ny. The new tes­ti­mo­ny was pro­vid­ed by Quiana Glover, who…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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New Voices

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Jun 02, 2009

NEW VOICES: Executing Troy Davis Would Be ​“Unconscionable and Unconstitutional”

Former Congressman Bob Barr of Georgia has called for a full court hear­ing on the new evi­dence offered by death row inmate Troy Davis regard­ing his pos­si­ble inno­cence. Davis’s attor­neys have sub­mit­ted a peti­tion to the U.S. Supreme Court request­ing such a hear­ing. Barr not­ed that part of the basis the low­er courts have used in refus­ing to hold a hear­ing is the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, a law that he helped write. Barr, who also served as a U.S. Attorney in Georgia, wrote in an op-ed in…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Clemency

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New Voices

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Sep 16, 2011

NEW VOICES: Former FBI Chief Urges Georgia to Commute Troy Davis’s Death Sentence

William S. Sessions, the for­mer direc­tor of the FBI and a for­mer fed­er­al judge and pros­e­cu­tor, recent­ly wrote an op-ed call­ing for the com­mu­ta­tion of Troy Davis​’s death sen­tence to life in prison with­out parole. Writing in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Sessions said that ​“seri­ous ques­tions about Davis’ guilt, high­light­ed by wit­ness recan­ta­tions, alle­ga­tions of police coer­cion and a lack of rel­e­vant phys­i­cal evi­dence, con­tin­ue to plague his con­vic­tion.” He called upong the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to exer­cise ​“a mea­sure of com­pas­sion and human­i­ty.” He con­clud­ed that…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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New Voices

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Jun 25, 2010

NEW VOICES: Former Georgia Supreme Court Justice Would Have Granted Troy Davis a Hearing

Judge Norman Fletcher served on the Georgia Supreme Court and was in the major­i­ty that upheld Troy Davis​’s orig­i­nal con­vic­tion and death sen­tence on direct appeal. However, Judge Fletcher has not­ed he was not on the court after many of the wit­ness­es from Davis’s tri­al recant­ed their tes­ti­mo­ny, and he prob­a­bly would have vot­ed in favor of a new evi­den­tiary hear­ing for Davis if he was on the court today. Judge Fletcher recent­ly wrote about the wis­dom of retir­ing U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stevens regard­ing his deci­sion in the Troy…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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United States Supreme Court

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Oct 07, 2008

Questions Before the U.S. Supreme Court in the Troy Davis Case

The United States Supreme Court is cur­rent­ly con­sid­er­ing whether to hear the case of Troy Davis or to allow his exe­cu­tion to go for­ward. The Court stayed his exe­cu­tion on September 23, less than two hours before it was to take place. The for­mal term for agree­ing to hear a case is ​“grant­i­ng a peti­tion for cer­tio­rari.” Davis’ attor­neys sub­mit­ted such a peti­tion, rais­ing a num­ber of ques­tions on which the Court could grant a hear­ing. The first ques­tion pre­sent­ed to the Court is:

Facts & Research

Religion

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New Voices

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Sep 29, 2011

RELIGIOUS VIEWS: Over 150 Catholic Theologians Call for Repeal of the Death Penalty

In response to the exe­cu­tions of Troy Davis and Lawrence Brewer on September 21, over 150 Catholic the­olo­gians have signed a state­ment call­ing for the abo­li­tion of the death penal­ty in United States. The the­olo­gians stat­ed: “[W]e oppose the death penal­ty, whether a per­son on death row is guilty or inno­cent, on both the­o­log­i­cal and prac­ti­cal grounds. While we espe­cial­ly deplore and lament the killing of Troy Davis, we also decry the death sen­tences of the more than 3,200 inmates on death row and the 1,268 exe­cu­tions since the death…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Clemency

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Apr 17, 2009

Troy Davis Appeal Rejected; Oklahoma Board Recommends Clemency for Donald Gilson

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit denied habeas cor­pus relief to a Georgia death row inmate who claims he is inno­cent and who has received inter­na­tion­al sup­port. In a 2 – 1 deci­sion, the court held that Troy Davis could have pre­sent­ed most of his new evi­dence ear­li­er and that the evi­dence did not offer clear and con­vinc­ing proof of his inno­cence. Hence, the court did not con­sid­er his free-stand­ing claim of inno­cence on its mer­its, but con­clud­ed it was barred because of the delay in fil­ing. The court…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Sep 11, 2008

Troy Davis Facing Execution in Georgia Despite Recantation of Eye-witnesses

Troy Davis has been sched­uled for exe­cu­tion on September 23 in Georgia, despite seri­ous doubts about his guilt. The state Parole Board has sched­uled a clemen­cy hear­ing on September 12 to review evi­dence relat­ed to the fact that sev­en of the nine eye-wit­ness­es that tes­ti­fied against Davis have recant­ed their state­ments. Davis’ lawyers say they have evi­dence exon­er­at­ing him and impli­cat­ing anoth­er per­son as the killer. The Parole Board pre­vi­ous­ly raised ques­tions about Davis’ guilt and grant­ed a stay of his exe­cu­tion 24 hours before his July 2007 exe­cu­tion date.

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Clemency

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Sep 12, 2011

Troy Davis To Have Additional Clemency Hearing

Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis will have a third clemen­cy hear­ing before the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles on September 19, two days before his sched­uled exe­cu­tion. The hear­ing will allow Davis to present wit­ness­es the Board did not hear from in pri­or hear­ings as well as ​“renewed claims of inno­cence” regard­ing his con­vic­tion for killing Savannah police offi­cer Mark Allen MacPhail in 1989. Doubts about Davis’ guilt were raised when some pros­e­cu­tion wit­ness­es changed their sto­ries after giv­ing tes­ti­mo­ny against Davis, includ­ing accu­sa­tions point­ing to anoth­er suspect…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Representation

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United States Supreme Court

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Executions Overview

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Sep 21, 2011

U.S. Supreme Court Halts Execution For Third Time in a Year

Desert Storm vet­er­an Cleve Foster (pic­tured), who faced exe­cu­tion in Texas for the third time this year for a mur­der near­ly a decade ago, was grant­ed anoth­er stay by the U.S. Supreme Court on September 20. The Supreme Court stopped Foster’s exe­cu­tion twice before in 2011. In January, six hours before his sched­uled exe­cu­tion, the Justices grant­ed a reprieve to allow them more time to con­sid­er his appeal. In April, the Court again halt­ed his exe­cu­tion when his lawyers sought a rehear­ing, claim­ing that Foster was inno­cent and had ineffective…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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United States Supreme Court

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Aug 17, 2009

U.S. Supreme Court Orders Historic Hearing on Innocence Claim in Troy Davis Case

On August 17 the United States Supreme Court ordered a new evi­den­tiary hear­ing for Georgia death row inmate Troy Davis, whose case has drawn world­wide atten­tion because of new evi­dence of his pos­si­ble inno­cence. For the first time in near­ly 50 years, the Court has favor­ably respond­ed to a peti­tion direct­ed to them, rather than as an appeal from oth­er courts. With only two Justices writ­ing in dis­sent, the Court ordered the low­er fed­er­al court to hear Davis’ evi­dence: ​“The District Court should receive tes­ti­mo­ny and make find­ings of fact…